(Topic ID: 327426)

Gottleib Flipper Clown - (Update) - Ball count and target issues

By Arkate

1 year ago


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  • 25 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by durriti
  • Topic is favorited by 3 Pinsiders

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Flipper Clown W relay (resized).jpg
Flipper Clown target scoring lights (resized).jpg
Flipper Clown Balls to Play (resized).jpg

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#1 1 year ago

Hey everyone,

I recently picked up a flipper clown and have been trying to get it to start, right now it will cycle balls endlessly but doesn't count down balls, and doesn't start a game when you push the start button - in fact pushing the start button electrocuted me - any ideas where to start looking into this?

Much appreciated
Kate

Added 16 months ago:

The game is now starting and the ball count unit functions properly on start up and add-a-ball; however, it does not subtract a ball from the ball count when the ball drains. When you start a game with balls left it will step down to game over then back up to 5 correctly, but when a ball drains it just releases it to be launched again

Also the 'right/left target when lit' lights are all lit, and choosing a number via the roto-target is not functional

#4 1 year ago

As an update I cleaned the relay bank and can get the start relay to trip and the slap off switch works now.

Now the motor runs endlessly and it seems to be trying to reset the left and right targets. I verified relay J is not firing and cleaned and adjusted the contacts that would indicate a complete reset of those steppers but no luck yet

The fish paper is intact on the front button, and actually isolated by an armature that's rubber coated in contact spots as well - right now noone else is around this machine so I will worry about that after I get the rest of it running

#5 1 year ago

Another update - some leftovers from the coin mech were still in place, and pushing the button far enough caused the switch to contact a small metal clip and short against the door - shock hazard has been resolved

1 week later
#7 1 year ago
Quoted from MarkG:

Does the trip relay bank with the S/Start relay in it ever reset? The tripped S/Start relay will keep the Score Motor running (which will keep targets resetting) until the bank resets. That requires the S Armature switch to be closed (below the trip bank) and switches on the Ball To Play Unit to close.
/Mark

The bank never resets. I verified the S Armature switch is adjusted properly - I can't seem to figure out what 'On Add Balls to Play Unit' is referencing - I've cleaned and adjusted the switches on the ball count unit but that didn't seem to make a difference

#8 1 year ago

OK so I got that sorted - the reset bank contacts are the ones that contact in the game over position. If I set the ball count to game over it will start properly except it starts with 6 balls instead of 5.

It is also still not counting down balls on drain. I cleaned up both B and F relays as well as switch stacks for motor 1c and 2b no change

Verified adjustment of contacts on K, L1, and P1 and all seem fine

Not too sure where to take it from here

#10 1 year ago
Quoted from MarkG:

It should count down to zero, then count up to five at the start of a new game. Yours might be skipping the count down part. There are two paths into the Subtract Balls To Play solenoid:
[quoted image]
The upper path through the S/Start relay switch is used during reset and the lower path is used during game play. If you jumper around the Zero Position switch (by connecting yellow+red to green-yellow) does it count down?

It does not, The first ball drained added a ball (now showing 6 balls) then any ball after that does nothing to the ball count

#13 1 year ago

So it will reset to Game Over and count up to 5 balls on start, but it never subtracts balls when playing.

I'm thinking this has something to do with the add-a-ball or the win relay for the targets, adding a ball on 2000 points works

#14 1 year ago

Also - both 'target when lit' lights are always lit - I think these are supposed to alternate but I'm not sure

#17 1 year ago
Quoted from MarkG:

Have you experimented with the circuit in reply #9? That would be a good place to start.

AHA!!! There was a make switch on D that I've overlooked probably 4 times due to its position in the stack, it was bent such that it never broke on the bank reset - thank you!

Quoted from MarkG:

The Left and Right Target Scoring Units are steppers under the playfield in the back (see: https://gottliebpin.com/archive/GTB-Ref/191/gtb-pb191-underpf.jpg). Do they ever advance past the 1st position?

These never advance past 0, I've serviced the steppers themselves but the not the roto-target that should advance them yet - I'm going to do that now that the game is cycling balls properly

#18 1 year ago

Quick update - no change when servicing roto-target.

Best I can gather rolling over the rollovers are also supposed to score targets and none of them work for either side

If I manually trigger L1 and P1 the target and win mechanics work

Traced this back to the H relay- after test jumpering it started qorking so I cleaned and now that working

I've noticed if the roto-target isn't perfectly on a number it defaults to 15 so I gotta do a proper service on that to ensure it's landing correctly otherwise I think I'm pretty good for now! Thanks everyone for your help!

#19 1 year ago

OK hopefully one last weird issue I've been banging my head against a wall on -

When you light up both the left and right target numbers, if the right target is higher it should give you a free ball

This works if I set the right target first, but if I set the left target first it just resets as if the left target was higher

Not sure where to take this one

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